{"id":2415,"date":"2025-08-14T08:18:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T08:18:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/?p=2415"},"modified":"2025-08-14T09:14:45","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T09:14:45","slug":"peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/","title":{"rendered":"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sevda Kartal, Law School, Faculty of HASS, has recently submitted her PhD thesis. In the below post she<\/em> discusses the importance of peer support, particularly in the final stages of your degree.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building an academic support network\u2014both during and after the PhD\u2014is one of the most challenging aspects of an academic career. Although academic culture often emphasises self-sufficiency, we all need support to stay motivated and to navigate the inevitable blocks we encounter, whether they stem from self-doubt or external challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was lucky to have a supportive peer group by the end of my PhD\u2014but that wasn\u2019t the case for most of my PhD journey. Until the end of my fourth year, I had not managed to build a strong peer support network. Lately, I\u2019ve been speaking with friends who are also in the final stages of their PhDs, and I see they are facing the same challenges I once did: the overwhelming pressure of submission without reliable support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the end of a PhD approaches, the stress of submission intensifies, often compounded by uncertainty around future career plans, personal issues, emotional exhaustion, and a fear of failure. At this stage, I\u2019ve noticed\u2014both in myself and my friends\u2014that we tend to react differently to stress. Feedback from supervisors starts to feel more personal, sometimes triggering defensiveness or discouragement. Relationships with family, friends, and particularly supervisors often become strained. During this phase, insomnia and depression are some of the most common challenges PhD students experience. We also criticise ourselves constantly for being slow, disorganised, emotionally absent, indecisive, unproductive, and unable to concentrate. Worst of all, because we don\u2019t talk openly about these struggles, we tend to believe we\u2019re the only ones suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reassurance and support from supervisors make a significant difference, but even then, peer support plays an essential role. Navigating the emotional and mental challenges of a PhD often requires the empathy and shared experience that only peers can provide. They help you break through self-imposed blocks, validate your struggles, and remind you that you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this stage, the University offers a Postgraduate-to-Postgraduate (PGR\u2013PGR) Peer Mentoring Scheme<\/a>, run by the Peer Mentoring Team (peersupport@exeter.ac.uk<\/a>). In addition to this scheme, the Doctoral College provides training sessions specifically targeted at final-year students. The PGR Study Space<\/a> is also a valuable resource; it is open to all, and many students write their theses during it. There is an equivalent for postdocs called Focus Time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am currently pursuing an academic career, but there are times when I feel lost and in need of a support network to stay motivated. When I did a little research, I found lots of articles, blog posts, and websites devoted to the benefits of peer support in an academic career. The shared conclusion drawn from these sources is that each of us has different strengths in research\u2014some of us are highly disciplined, others excel in technical skills, planning, or interpretation. So, establishing a peer support group can not only provide motivation and sustained engagement with research but also foster the development of new skills through mutual inspiration and collaboration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, the best way to keep research motivation alive is to make the most of opportunities in your department\u2014whether that\u2019s an academic retreat weekend, PGR Study Space<\/a>, or an online writing session. These can be game-changers for early-career academics, especially with guidance from experienced mentors. In an academic career, the greatest challenge is often not the complexity of the subject matter itself, but rather sustaining motivation, especially while managing long teaching hours, personal responsibilities, and the constant effort to maintain balance. This makes having a strong support network even more important during the PhD journey and beyond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sevda Kartal, Law School, Faculty of HASS, has recently submitted her PhD thesis. In the below post she discusses the importance of peer support, particularly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1109,"featured_media":2249,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,41],"tags":[257,263,261,73,85,259,105],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPeer Support during your PhD and beyond - Doctoral College<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Building an academic support network\u2014both during and after the PhD\u2014is one of the most challenging aspects of an academic career. Although academic culture often emphasises self-sufficiency, we all need peer support to stay motivated and to navigate the inevitable blocks we encounter, whether they stem from self-doubt or external challenges.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond - Doctoral College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Building an academic support network\u2014both during and after the PhD\u2014is one of the most challenging aspects of an academic career. Although academic culture often emphasises self-sufficiency, we all need peer support to stay motivated and to navigate the inevitable blocks we encounter, whether they stem from self-doubt or external challenges.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Doctoral College\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T08:18:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-14T09:14:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kelyn Luther\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kelyn Luther\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/\",\"name\":\"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond - Doctoral College\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-14T08:18:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-14T09:14:45+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#\/schema\/person\/83a2f638475742b74da25eb282f2a8ee\"},\"description\":\"Building an academic support network\u2014both during and after the PhD\u2014is one of the most challenging aspects of an academic career. Although academic culture often emphasises self-sufficiency, we all need peer support to stay motivated and to navigate the inevitable blocks we encounter, whether they stem from self-doubt or external challenges.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":500,\"caption\":\"Photo of blog post author, Sevda Kartal\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/\",\"name\":\"Doctoral College\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#\/schema\/person\/83a2f638475742b74da25eb282f2a8ee\",\"name\":\"Kelyn Luther\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/253b9bc2edb9ef73f8c07a3270c51790?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/253b9bc2edb9ef73f8c07a3270c51790?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kelyn Luther\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/author\/kl360\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond - Doctoral College","description":"Building an academic support network\u2014both during and after the PhD\u2014is one of the most challenging aspects of an academic career. Although academic culture often emphasises self-sufficiency, we all need peer support to stay motivated and to navigate the inevitable blocks we encounter, whether they stem from self-doubt or external challenges.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond - Doctoral College","og_description":"Building an academic support network\u2014both during and after the PhD\u2014is one of the most challenging aspects of an academic career. Although academic culture often emphasises self-sufficiency, we all need peer support to stay motivated and to navigate the inevitable blocks we encounter, whether they stem from self-doubt or external challenges.","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/","og_site_name":"Doctoral College","article_published_time":"2025-08-14T08:18:06+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-14T09:14:45+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":500,"url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kelyn Luther","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kelyn Luther","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/","name":"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond - Doctoral College","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-14T08:18:06+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-14T09:14:45+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#\/schema\/person\/83a2f638475742b74da25eb282f2a8ee"},"description":"Building an academic support network\u2014both during and after the PhD\u2014is one of the most challenging aspects of an academic career. Although academic culture often emphasises self-sufficiency, we all need peer support to stay motivated and to navigate the inevitable blocks we encounter, whether they stem from self-doubt or external challenges.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg","width":500,"height":500,"caption":"Photo of blog post author, Sevda Kartal"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/2025\/08\/14\/peer-support-in-phd-and-beyond\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Peer Support during your PhD and beyond"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/","name":"Doctoral College","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#\/schema\/person\/83a2f638475742b74da25eb282f2a8ee","name":"Kelyn Luther","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/253b9bc2edb9ef73f8c07a3270c51790?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/253b9bc2edb9ef73f8c07a3270c51790?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kelyn Luther"},"url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/author\/kl360\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/299\/2024\/07\/Sevda-Kartal.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1109"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2415"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2419,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2415\/revisions\/2419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.exeter.ac.uk\/doctoralcollege\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}